Village Doctor Doubles as Movie Director to Promote Rural Culture

April 13, 2018 Editor: Wu Shanshan

Deng Hua, a village doctor and filmmaker in north China, has shot short movies to promote traditional culture and attract investment to lift locals out of poverty in the last few years.

Deng lives in Maju Village of Lingqiu County, North China's Shanxi Province.

Over the past several years, she has devoted herself to directing over 200 clips and over 30 short films in her spare time, with an aim to promote traditional virtues and local culture.

The videos are commonly themed on "empty nest" seniors, dropout students and the traditional Chinese virtues of loyalty and filial piety.

All the villagers call her "Fairy Deng", and she was awarded the title of Public Service Model by China's Public Welfare Network in 2017.

Maju Village, located at the foot of Erlong Mountain, is isolated and only has a permanent population of 100 people, most of whom are so-called "left-behind" children and seniors.

Deng set up a health record for every villager after she first arrived 10 years ago. She informed everyone clearly about their health and supplied drugs with her own money.

One local man surnamed Cao lived with her granddaughter after his son divorced and worked elsewhere.

The lack of primary school in the village caused the child to fail to attend school at the proper age.

An idea occurred to Deng to help the old man in 2015. She made a video to call on people to lend their assistance to the poor girl.

Then, Deng's first video, I Want to Go to School appeared and received unexpected responses online. Through the help of the Pingxingguan Volunteer Union and other people, the girl entered a school in the county.

This enabled Deng to see the power of the internet. Thus, she began to use her films to reflect some of the current hot topics in rural areas and tell real rural stories.

Afterwards, hundreds of films full of local flavor have been finished in three years, which have quickly won a strong response and numerous praises.

Lingqiu County is economically backward but filled with beautiful scenery and profound culture with long history which includes the Pingxingguan Battle Site and others.

Deng began shooting films reflecting the landscape of Lingqiu in 2017, while promoting traditional virtues and folk culture.

The mini-movies reflect the scenery of Lingqiu and have made Deng a minor celebrity in short movie circles. She hopes to publicize her hometown this way and attract people from all walks of life to travel to Lingqiu and make investment , helping to eradicate poverty.

Recently, she also set up Tanghemei Tang Suit Association and served as its president after captivating people around her who love the cheongsam, Han-style Chinese clothing and other Chinese traditional costumes.

She also integrated activities of the association into the publicity of her hometown and tried to speak for its beauty.

"There are 300 people in the association, which has greatly improved the life quality and mental outlook of women here. It makes us even prouder when we use this platform to improve ourselves, promote culture and publicize our hometown," a member of the association said.